Missouri Republican: No such thing as a hate crime

Missouri State Rep. Paul Curtman (R) on Saturday denied that crimes based on an the victim’s race, religion, national origin, ethnic identification, gender, or sexual orientation were any different than other crimes.

Curtman’s remarks were recorded by the group Progress Missouri at the Forum on Missouri Economic Prosperity. During his speech at the forum, the Missouri lawmaker advocated for free market policies, and said the U.S. Constitution provided an outline for limited government and economic freedom.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” Curtman said, quoting the Declaration of Independence. “Let’s start right there: All men are created equal. The first thing you need is equality under the law to apply to the economic sector of society just as it would to any thing else.”

“You know, we don’t want to have hate crimes, because then you’re supposing that a crime is much worse if it is committed against a white person or a black person as opposed to an Asian or Hispanic person,” he continued. “There is not really such a thing as a hate crime. Crime is crime. Equality under the law.”

Curtman later deviated from economic issues again, and attacked Democrats for proposing new regulations and restrictions on firearms.

“The Second Amendment says it is the right of the people to keep and bear arms. If it is my right, why in the world does Barack Obama or any number of totalitarian figures in the U.S. Congress think that we have to ask their permission to carry a gun, when it is my right to carry it?” he said to loud applause.

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